Utah State received the school's highest football ranking since the Merlin Olsen era and Utah fell out of the AP Top 25, announced Sunday.
USU, a 56-17 winner at Hawaii late Saturday, moved up four spots to No. 14. The Aggies were ranked No. 10 in the final poll of the 1961 season after going 9-1-1 with a loss to Baylor in the Gotham Bowl. More recently, USU finished No. 16 in 2012, having gone 11-2 in the program's last season under coach Gary Andersen.
USU coach Matt Wells' team has an eight-game winning streak and is 8-1 overall, 5-0 in the Mountain West. The Aggies are No. 16 in the Coaches Poll. USU will host San Jose State on Saturday in its final regular-season home game.
The next checkpoint for USU is Tuesday's release of the second week of College Football Playoff rankings, which eventually will award a New Year's Six bowl bid and could determine the host site of the Mountain West championship game. The Aggies were not listed in the first CFP rankings; No. 12 Central Florida was the highest-ranked Group of Five team in the CFP last week and MW member Fresno State was No. 23.
Utah (6-3) dropped out of the AP Top 25 after a 38-20 loss at Arizona State, after being No. 16 last week. The Utes, who host Oregon on Saturday, remained in the Coaches Poll at No. 24.
Follow @tribkurt